Tag--You're It!

Posted on 29 May 2016 @ 6:15am by Lieutenant Commander Alexei Joran & Lieutenant Kerre Daxit

657 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Errand of Mercy
Location: Chief Engineer's Office
Timeline: ED - 3 0800

ON:

The first thing Alexei did when he arrived at his office in Main Engineering was grab a cup of coffee from the replicator. He then sat down at his desk and activated his computer for he had a decision to make. Truth be told, he had already made the decision but he still had to officially enter it in his engineering log. After making the appropriate entries in the log, he sat back and took a sip from his coffee mug, then activated his combadge.

=/\= Joran to Lieutenant Daxit...=/\= he called out. =/\= Please report to my office. =/\=

=/\= Aye sir...=/\= came her immediate response. =/\= I will be there within two minutes. =/\=

Sure enough, in just under two minutes the statuesque Betazoid walked into his office. "You wanted to see me, Commander?" she asked.

"Yes. Have a seat," Alexei said, keeping his expression neutral.

"Is there a problem, sir?"

"That depends..." he responded.

"May I ask what it depends on?" was her comeback.

"It depends on your reaction to what I'm about to say," Alexei answered slowly.

"I...I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at, sir..." Seeing the confused expression on her face caused Joran to have to struggle mightily to maintain the neutral expression on his countenance.

"Tag--you're it..." he said after a moment.

"I'm...it...?" she asked. "I'm...what...?" By now she appeared to be completely confused. "Am I in trouble for something?"

Many thoughts ran through her mind as she tried to figure out what she could possibly be in trouble for. Was it for the little bit of flirting she had done with Lieutenant Adams while they were calibrating the ramscoop control panel? Mentally shaking her head she thought 'no it couldn't be that--no one else had been there. Unless that rat fink Adams squealed on me...' Then an even more frightening thought crossed her mind. 'Oh hell and damnation!' she thought. 'It's because I winked at him when I left the office after he questioned me yesterday. I'll bet he's got a wife or something...'

Then Alexei allowed a ghost of a smile to escape. "Relax--you're not in trouble," he said, allowing a slight laugh. "What you ARE is my new Assistant Chief Engineer. That is, if you still want the position."

"WHAT??" she almost yelped. "ARE YOU SERIOUS??" 'Of course he's serious you nimrod...' she mentally chastized herself as she tried to get hold of her emotions. "I mean, uh...yes I still want the position...uh...sir..."

"You realize of course this means you will be working closely with me, right?" he asked

"So what's the down side?" she asked, then realized she had spoken her thought aloud. "Oh, Gods, I'm sorry! I...uh...that is...uhmm..." she stammered, all the while thinking 'Jesus Christ Daxit--would you like a shovel to dig this hole a bit deeper. Then, finally finding her voice again, she added "Perhaps I should just shut up now."

"That's okay Kerre..." he said, doing his best to not laugh and make her feel even worse. "No offense taken. Now, what I would like you to do is take over Beta Shift for the next few days. You've got the experience and I have confidence that you can ride herd on these people and get them to do what we need them to do." Alexei then stood up behind his desk and extended his hand to her as a signal that their meeting was over. "Congratulations and I will see you at 1600."

"Thank you," she said, returning the handshake. "I will be here then..." she said, then turned and walked to the door. When she reached the door, she turned and gave him a big wink that he would not be able to miss this time before adding "...with bells on."

OFF:

Lieutenant Commander Alexei Joran
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Redemption

Lieutenant Kerre Daxit (PNPC - Jim)
Assistant Chief Engineer
USS Redemption

 

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